COUGHLIN BASEBALL 1980

If there was one word to describe the 1980 Coughlin baseball team it would be heart.

"That team had the heart of a champion," said John Quinn, who served as the assistant coach to Bob Corba. "It's arguably the best baseball team to ever come out of the Valley," he said of the squad which finished second in the state in Class AAA that year.

"The team had everything, strong pitching, great hitters and a great defense. That infield with Mike Obeid (third), Joe Phillips (shortstop), Joe Murray (second base) and Pat Flaherty (first base) was outstanding," added Quinn. "And our catcher, George Hall, well, there was nobody better."

After negotiating a tough Wyoming Valley Conference schedule with barely a hiccup, the Crusaders were stunned by Valley View in the District 2 championship game and headed to Shippensburg as the No. 2 team from the district.

The state tournament was double elimination in those days and the Crusaders drew a tough opening game assignment in Pennsbury. Corba went with his best pitcher, southpaw flamethrower Dave Janus, but the defense let him down and Pennsbury won, 5-2, droppingthe Crusaders into the elimination bracket .

Then the fun began.

The Crusaders stayed alive by posting two wins the following day, one a come-from-behind victory over Bedford.

"That's what separates this team. We had to play two games each day - in the heat. They were drained. Between games all they wanted to do was lie down," said Quinn.

Still looming was a game against Blackhawk and Corba sent Mark Kropiewnicki to the mound and the junior responded with a complete-game performance that sent Coughlin to an afternoon game with Muhlenberg.

Running out of pitchers with available innings, Corba gave Phillips the ball. For Phillips, it was the first time he pitched all season and he held Muhlenberg to just two hits.

Asked if Phillips' performance surprised him, Corba said at the time, "Nothing Joe does surprises me. He's just a super athlete."

"It really was incredible," said Obeid who operates Sheehan's Pharmacy in Plains. "I mean, the guy doesn't throw a pitch all year and then in the state tournament he goes and throws a two-hitter."

Kropiewnicki and Phillips give Corba some breathing room and he was able to bring Janus back to pitch against State College, the defending champion and Janus responded with a victory. A subsequent win over North Penn vaulted the Crusaders into the final of the elimination bracket - a Friday morning game against Whitehall.

Kropiewnicki was up to the task, allowing just one hit as the Crusaders moved into the title game against unbeaten Shaler.

"By this time they were exhausted," said Quinn. "And being baseball players, they were a little superstitious, like nobody was washing their socks," he laughingly added.

"The thing was by that time, we just had nobody left to pitch," said Obeid. "Janus, Krop, they were at the innings limit. They were done."

Corba rolled the dice and went with senior Dave Nat as his starter, a southpaw who saw limited duty during the season, saying at the time Nat's assortment of off-speed pitches would keep Shaler off-balance. But, Nat was unable to get his curve-ball over for strikes and Shaler sat on his fast ball. Shaler's first batter belted a long home run to set the tone for the game.

Meanwhile, Shaler's 6-foot-4 righty Wayne Schuckert, a draft pick of the Chicago White Sox the week before, ended the Crusaders dream with a two-hitter. One of those hits was a two-run homer by Phillips in his final high school at-bat.

Phillips, the Player of the Year in 1980, started a rare triple play in the fourth.

Pitching in relief of Nat, Phillips found himself in a jam with runners on first and second and no out. The Shaler batter attempted a bunt which Phillips fielded in the air while going to his knees for one out. He quickly recovered to rifle a throw to Murray at second base to get that runner off the base and Murray fired on to Flaherty at first to get that runner, who also was off the base.

Coincidentally, many of the Coughlin players went right on to play that summer for the Plains American Legion team which advanced to the state tournament at Boyertown, and lost to - you guessed it - Shaler, to finish third.

"Six straight wins in three days against the best in the state," added Quinn. "Pretty good team."

These are the best of the best: the top 25 Wyoming Valley sports teams of all time. Each day, we’ll select a
different team and dig into the archives to relive their glory and greatness. Putting together a list like this is a tall task. We couldn’t have done it without the readers who submitted suggestions on which teams were worthy of consideration. We hope this series will enrich and inform our readers about the Wyoming Valley’s great sports legacy. And, while we’ll be counting down from 25 to 1 (so you can keep track of where we are in the series), these teams are not ranked in any particular order. They are all the best of the best.

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